Ex-DEA employee who concealed strip club ties avoids prison

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration employee avoided prison on Friday after his conviction last year for lying during a national security background check about operating a New Jersey strip club with an agent.

Glen Glover, a former DEA telecommunications specialist, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan to one year of probation and ordered to undertake 250 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine.

The sentencing came after a jury in June found Glover, 47, guilty of conspiracy and false statement charges for concealing his ties to the Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge strip club in South Hackensack, New Jersey.

Prosecutors said Glover, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, was a part-owner and worked at the club with David Polos, an ex-assistant special agent-in-charge with the DEA, who received the same probationary sentence as Glover on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that during background checks in 2011, to spot any outside employment that could put them near criminal activity or create risks of being blackmailed, Glover and Polos failed to disclose that they were running the club.

The club featured scantily clad and sometimes topless female dancers, including some who engaged in sexual acts with patrons and staff, and many who were illegal, undocumented immigrants, prosecutors said.